As part of the Fear Itself event, this issue serves no purpose. It supposedly takes place sometime after the attack on Washington and the death of Bucky. It barely fits into the crossover. The only thing that Fear Itself has to do with this one-shot is the title.

But that’s okay because it gives us an oppotunity to read Bunn’s Black Widow.

This is who Marvel should have gotten to write the Black Widow ongoing. Maybe it wouldn’t have been as short lived as it ended up being. Bunn’s got a very good grasp on the Widow.

He captures everything about her character except the seductiveness.

The story is technical with good spycraft, but it’s also a character piece. It feels like a solid Black Widow story and would have better served as the first issue to a Widow series instead of a one-shot. When the Widow glosses over Bucky’s death and focuses on the job at hand, it doesn’t feel forced, it feels natural.

And Bunn throws in an appearance by Peregrine. One of the C-List heroes in the MU and one of my favorites. The appearance is short lived, but well done. He serves the role of the Falcon, so it’s hard to tell how the character would be. He’s so underused that most people will be wondering just who he is.

The art by Nguyen is decent. It kind of reminds me of Felipe Andrade, but better. The facial features are elongated but not badly so. It’s not work that I would want to see regularly in a title starring The Black Widow, but for a one shot it works pretty good.

Fear Itself: The Black Widow receives
3.5 out of 5

I’d like to see more Black Widow from Bunn but as part of the event this issue doesn’t fit.